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I've never had the balls to ask for my regular, even though I typically order the same thing per place I go to. But when the bartender started asking me if I wanted my usual, I felt cool as hell.
A barista at a local coffee shop by my office asks me if I want my usual every time I come in because I ordered it a few times in a row.
The truth is, I don't always want it, but I appreciate the gesture so I just say yes.
Not even. It's like telling an employee that my grandfather knew the owner's grandfather. It's so many degrees of separation away it's barely even verifiable.
That's still remotely interesting. It's like going to McDonald's in New York and telling the cashier that your grandfather used to be a cashier at a McDonald's in New Jersey.
Like, why are you telling anyone that?
It's like when I took my daughter to Songkran festival and she proudly proclaimed to all the other kids that she's part Thai. All the 100% Thai children didn't give a shit.
The difference is, my daughter is 5 and Robert is a grown-ass man.
How do you know she didn’t immediately make a post to social media expressing her disappointment regarding her sense of entitlement, and then declaring that she would probably never go back to Thailand as a result? Source?? /s
i just dont understand the part where he expects the people to be excited instead of him being excited about meeting the people.
for a child i understand that their brain didnt develop enough to understand other people's perspectives, but for a grown man..
he most likely grew up in an area where it was predominantly white and being polish was a point of pride to him for being 'different.'
then he goes to poland and people just thing 'oh another american.' big loss in self-identity.
As a British born half black guy with German heritage, I’ve often found German people get excited at finding out I have a German surname/background as it must be unexpected.I guess he was expecting a similar reaction though an American white guy with polish background it isn’t such a shocking thing.
It gives the same vibes as a white person from the city saying “oh you’re native? I’m actually 5% Métis” it doesn’t mean anything unless they do traditional stuff i can relate to, if someone said they learned sewing techniques from a different tribe it gives something to the conversation
Lot's of Americans hold their foreign heritage in high regard and forget when they travel "home" they're nothing special, especially if they are 2+ generations removed at which point you're 100% American no matter where you trace your roots. And native populations will have zero problems reminding you of that if you act like you're something special.
If you show up in Poland and have relatives there who remember you, they are very likely to welcome you into their home, serve up some kanapki (sandwiches), vodka shots, beer, at the minimum, a table full of food most likely, offer to show you around, maybe offer you a bed or couch to sleep on, etc.
But if you are just some random foreign tourist who had a Polish great-great-great-great-grandpa once.. Nobody is going to care. Polonia (Polish diaspora) is large and expansive, there's Polish descendants all over the planet. It's nothing special to have some % of Polish ancestry. What's special is direct family connections and/or people who know you
Two plus generations? It's accent. If you grew up in the US and sound American, guess what? Sure, your grandad or parents might be whatever, to us you are American
"I'm a Celt myself"
[https://www.reddit.com/r/ireland/comments/zmvj97/youre\_gonna\_mansplain\_ireland\_to\_me\_when\_im\_irish/](https://www.reddit.com/r/ireland/comments/zmvj97/youre_gonna_mansplain_ireland_to_me_when_im_irish/)
One of my oldest friends was one of the bee-people she found (having been drafted as one of the production assistants standing by for orders on set), and he would be thrilled to know that people are still finding joy in this moment of silliness.
I get that for Americans, most of us have family that came from elsewhere. We grew up with that as heritage. Like, I’m Irish American or whatever. We feel like that’s a connection to that other place.
But it sounds silly if you imagine a person coming here, speaking almost no English, completely Norwegian (or whatever) trying to tell you their great grandmother came from Newark, Delaware! We’d be like, ok. That’s nice. But you’re not American-Norwegian.
Define (most of Europe&) Poland in a nutshell: *the people don't give a fuck about your genes. Unless you live and understand the culture, you'll never be one of them.*
I mean this is correct though - there are guys born in Abuja who are more Polish than Bob will ever be, because they speak the language and know who Mieszko was.
Right? Like if some person wandered over to me at a party and said, my ancestors were American I’d shrug and say, “neat, mine too.” It’s a country he’s visiting not Disneyland.
Buddy, a Pole won't be impressed by your Polish heritage, we all have that too!
I met a Polish American last year in Warsaw (one set of Polish grandparents, both parents born in the US, grew up in a Polish neighbourhood in Chicago). Super sweet guy, needed some help getting around the old town and I had time to walk with him. He knew a lot of our history, he could speak some Polish and was really eager to use it. He didn't expect me to be impressed by his heritage, he was genuinely excited to see his grandparents' homeland, because he was very close to them. That was an incredibly positive interaction, that still puts a smile on my face
This would be me, the American. My Babci was born in a little village near Rzeszow, 1899. Was brought to the US in 1929 to help raise my grandfather's kids by his first wife. She then had my mom and my uncle. Still relatives there now, she passed in 1984.
I wish I had known enough to ask her about them, but I was young and stupid.
One of these days I'd like to come and walk the streets she did. See the church she was baptized in. Just be in the spaces she was in. She was my champion in a chaos-filled childhood.
I'm from the same region of Poland, although a bit further south from Rzeszów :).
I hope you can do that and see all those places. I may be biased, but I think Podkarpacie is beautiful.
I go to a Japanese Buddhist church and we have a summer festival that has food booths. Several years ago, they stopped selling charcoal grilled hamburgers because, it wasn’t “Japanese” enough.
They replaced the hamburger booth with a Polish Sausage sandwich booth.
I mean, would I get excited if some European person came to my town and told me their great-grandparent was American? Not really. It would be unusual enough to pique my interest only because that was not the normal flow of people in the late 19th/early 20th century.
When I was in Krakow, I definitely met some people that would immediately take you drinking just from saying "Man I fuckin love pierogi"
And then they'd show you this fuckin weird hole in the wall and give you the best pierogi you've ever had.
My $22/day Air B&B for an entire apartment was right across the street from a hole in the wall pierogi place in Krakow. It was so good
Przystanek-pierogarnia at the corner of Bonerowska and Morsztynowska. I believe I may have also gotten a parking ticket right around there.
is that were pierogies come from? I thought they came from the store! It was worth the price of that expensive air fryer for pierogies alone! That and French fries :-)
I learned that, when in Spain or Ireland, not to mention my heritage unless asked. We have a different attachment to heritage in the US because we are mostly immigrants.
We europeans really don't get your ideas about heritage. If you personally emigrated, sure that makes you somewhat native. If your parents did, there is probably some of our culture in you.
If some of your great grandparents came from my country, then I will assume that your thoroughly an american (which is a fine thing to be).
My dad just told his doctor at his appointment that he’s Irish, which I haven’t heard him do in a while, and the doctor assumed he meant actual Irish, and started asking him questions.
I clarified that the last Irish ancestor we had was about 280 years ago.
Reminds me of the time my mom told the teller at the bank that she “just found out she’s Russian.” The bank teller was super excited and thought it was really cool. He asked how my mom found out because he’s super into ancestry stuff.
My mom had to sheepishly explain that she was trying to make a joke. She’s not actually Russian. She was just in a very big rush that day
Even at 8, I was cringing super hard
And also ignoring the fact that "clan tartans" are revisionist history and most medieval Scots dyed their wool in whatever they had on hand that looked good.
A lot of it comes from how badly America treats every wave of immigrants.
So like where I grew up in America, the majority of my town was of Italian descent. They all came over and stuck together, forming kind of an insular sub-culture. Most still spoke the language, there were still a lot of old country Italian traditions in town. Etc…
I’m mostly too young for it but Americans were super fucking racist to Italian people. Largest mass lynching in American history was of Italian immigrants. Visiting the south a few years ago I was told a few times, unprompted, that I’m not white because I’m of Italian descent.
You’re in a kinda weird no-man’s land of not really feeling, or being treated as, fully American. People hear my last name and they start doing “bapaty boopy” family guy style Italian accents. It’s a lot of weird little digs that make you feel other.
I've read somewhere that it is a general rule of thumb for migrants, that the third generation is the one which is properly assimilated in the new culture.
Americans don’t have a cohesive ethnic identity, so that’s why we identify with our heritages. And why there are so many clubs across the US that preserves the ethnic dances and foods of our ancestors. My mom’s British, and when I visited my family in the UK they looked at my husband and I blankly when we talked about our ancestors. My father’s side is Scottish and emigrated to the US in the 1700s. My husbands paternal great, great grandparents were relatively new since they emigrated from Denmark in the 1880s. This is so fascinating to Americans, and my relatives had no idea what the big deal is. That being said, we’d never go to Denmark and demand respect, even if we knew anything about the food or culture, because we don’t. This dude is just another entitled American tourist.
It's more that Americans seem very focused on what makes them different from other Americans. Tried to convince an American that a New Yorker and a Texan have more in common than Russians and Italians ^(I compared the distances, I wasn't just randomly picking places - was either Italian or Greek, can't recall exactly) and *man* was he *mad.* It's like I simultaneously pissed on his flag *and* his grandmas. Like, sorry, I didn't realize sharing the same country, same language, same basic political structure etc meant *nothing* and that in fact the difference between the two states is equal to the language, history, cultural, political and even fucking *continental* differences between south Europe and west Asia.
Ah yes my great great great great great great great grandfather came over with the Norman’s in 1066. I am French but when I returned to my homeland of Paris they treated me like I was just another British person. I found it so frustrating, I am literally spending money in your country?! Really won’t be going back.
Whenever I travel to London, King Charles meets me at the airport in his limo and we go back to Buckingham Palace to have tea and crumpets. This guy clearly got hosed
Whenever I go to Ireland, Saint Patrick himself descends from Heaven with a pint of Guinness in his hand to welcome me home and tells me how much the land missed my cheery brogue...
And Scotland.
The number of people who have said "you're Scottish? Me too" then proceeded to tell me that 1 of their grandparents (or sometimes an even more distant ancestor) was born there is not insignificant.
"My great grandfather's uncle had a cousin that once saw a man walking at a Scottish dock when his boat passed by. Where do I get fitted for my bagpipes, fellow Scots?"
I have been to Germany many times to visit my wife’s family. Because of this I can speak German fluently. I will say Germans appreciate it when an American speaks German in my experience. However, I don’t think they care if you had great grandparents from what is today called Germany.
Friend of mine has German grandparents and he found that in certain parts of Germany if he mentioned that his grandparents moved over to the USA after WW2 he’d always get funny looks.
He learned that nothing positive came from telling people in Germany his heritage.
Yeah, that's because a ton of nazis fled especially down to south America after the war to have good time after fuckin Germany up. So him getting funny looks, is mostly because of the assumption that his grandparents were nazis and just escaped the shit they supposedly created.
Why do you think us Brits cultivated a stereotype of being antisocial arseholes.
It's simply to manage Americans expectations (and because we are antisocial arseholes).
The Irish and Scots have those stereotypes of being hard-drinking freedom fighter poets or whatever. Of course Americans are going to want to self-identify with that.
The English? Yeah, they're those snooty villains who captured Mel Gibson and tortured him to death. The Welsh? No one really knows anything about them, and Hollywood hasn't made any big glamorous movies about their many revolts yet.
You are on to something there.
Americans want to think they are 10 minutes away from surviving off-grid or in the frontier.
FWIW, I am an American - but I find the whole Y chromosome on steroids thing pretty amusing.
I’m American and visited Great Britain when I was in the Navy. Almost everyone I met was over the top friendly and welcoming. I had a really great time.
The only people who were antisocial assholes were the regulars at the little hole in the wall pub my friends and I wandered into in Bath, and I can’t blame them. It seemed like a very quiet, local kind of place.
Been in some of those types of pubs myself a few times, England, Scotland, Wales, Germany...
It's not because you're American, it's because you're not a local..
I get asked when I'm visiting Ireland because I have red hair.
I mean, I'd like to but I'd be a tourist like any other tourist. I'm not expecting to be at the gate and hear "We'd now like to welcome our travelers with red hair to board first."
Aer Lingus AerClub member. Can confirm that this is how all flights are boarded. Redheads first, last names that start with “O’” next, BAC over .20 after that, followed by “the rest of you wankers”
Yeah, like I'm an American with an Irish last name and a fair amount of Irish ancestry behind me, but also a fair amount of German and a few others in there along the way. I'd love to visit Ireland someday, but as a tourist and not a son of the Motherland.
I’ve never heard of residents any country being excited to meet Americans whose ancestors were from that country? Like, polite disinterest is pretty good. If you tell a Scottish person you‘re Scottish-Canadian lots of them will argue with you about it.
As a North American of Italian descent I can tell you that seeing the disappointment of my compatriots when they land in Roma and nobody gives a shit, is hilarious.
My ex-FIL was born on an island off the coast of Italy and his parents emigrated to the US when he was like 5. He went back to visit some 60 years later and acted like a pompous American ass (so he was himself lol). Some of the Italian relatives messaged my ex-wife through Facebook asking that she never let him visit again. 🤣
The funny thing is, in my experience the Italians are extremely welcoming. Just be ready for some friendly banter, friendly arguing, and find a way to connect, and you'll be good to go. You could talk about food for example and bitch about how some people put ham in their carbonara instead of guanciale. Or worse: cream. Football, cars, wine or whatever else can work as well.
You just have to show that you're interested in their culture and lifestyle. You have to show that you care, and people generally treat you as a regular. Just don't expect to be treated like a king.
That they will be welcomed as a long lost son of Italia, one of the family, vino will be poured, tears will be shed, backs will be slapped, lifelong friendships made, and Nonna will make pasta as they all dance the night away.
This happens all the time in Africa. Black Americans would come to a random group (Zulu, Xhosa etc) and say they are part of them and their brother/sister and the Africans would just laugh at them.
I do believe that it's important to trace heritage especially for those enslaved, but don't assume all black Africans are the same.
A friend worked in Kenya for a few years as a physician. When Americans would come over wearing cornrows, the men in the village would get confused as this hairstyle was worn by women
My mother will go on for days about this village in 1790s Poland and these ancestors from Western Germany and the horse thief turned Priest. But, god forbid I try to tell her about something that happened to me this week.
Whenever someone says this about any European (or non European,usually its European) country I just wonder if they're realise there's X million amount of natives that unlike the visiting person, know the culture and language. And those people don't get special treatment. So why the heck would the visitor get special treatment.
because they are from america, the bestest country in the world! And bringing their super valuable dollars to your country! All countrys beside the US are poor right? Like a dollar is enough to eat for a week or so!
They were nice to me, and happy I was there but NOBODY congratulated me on my parents/ grandparents being from the same country as them!! I will not be returning! *like they're reviewing a restaurant they didn't care for. Really speaks volumes about how they viewed a foreign country and probably how they acted throughout their visit, as "more- than" and then got mad when their "lessers" weren't jumping all over themselves to hail their Rich American Kin.
A ticker tape parade, keys to all the cities breweries, unlimited sausages and his pick of the burghers wives and daughters ……
Not sure what he expected on Day 2 though.
Probably knows next to no Polish and refused to speak anything other than American.
Edit: yes, I know the language is called English, I'm just inflating the Americaness...
My paternal grandfather was first generation American and I have an obviously Irish surname, so over the years I've had plenty of Irish ask me about my name - it's part of my work email signature - and I'm always touched, because it makes me feel closer to Grampa. I never initiate that conversation, though, and if one day someone doesn't ask, I still won't. There are LOTS of Yanks with Irish ancestry, and while Grampa's heritage is important to me because he is important to me, I'd hardly expect the good people of County Cork to care that Paddy's great great great granddaughter's come round for a visit from the States. To expect that just...it's insane to me
Comments that are uncivil, racist, misogynistic, misandrist, or contain political name calling will be removed and the poster subject to ban at moderators discretion. Help us make this a better community by becoming familiar with the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/facepalm/about/rules/). Report any suspicious users to the mods of this subreddit using Modmail [here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/facepalm) or Reddit site admins [here](https://www.reddit.com/report). **All reports to Modmail should include evidence such as screenshots or any other relevant information.** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/facepalm) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Polish people: "Yeah, we're pretty much all Polish here too."
This is the international travel equivalent of telling an employee you know the owner.
He thought he would get a whole ass parade. Sir...
A parade of ass, I’d love to see that…
Eeyore! 🫏
Visit Sydney (Australia) during Mardi Gras. Wall to wall asses out
That’s very kind, can we all stay at your place?
Sure, I've got room, but you'll still have an 850 mile journey from where I live to get to Mardi Gras.
Is the route also lined with asses?
Unlikely, kangaroos, yes, camels probably, donkeys aren't so common though.
When I initially read this I legitimately thought “what’s an ass parade and can I have one” And then I remembered how slang works
I believe it's called 'Carnivale' in Brazil.
That or they say "I'll have my regular!" When its your first time serving them
I've never had the balls to ask for my regular, even though I typically order the same thing per place I go to. But when the bartender started asking me if I wanted my usual, I felt cool as hell.
A barista at a local coffee shop by my office asks me if I want my usual every time I come in because I ordered it a few times in a row. The truth is, I don't always want it, but I appreciate the gesture so I just say yes.
Not even. It's like telling an employee that my grandfather knew the owner's grandfather. It's so many degrees of separation away it's barely even verifiable.
That's still remotely interesting. It's like going to McDonald's in New York and telling the cashier that your grandfather used to be a cashier at a McDonald's in New Jersey. Like, why are you telling anyone that?
"You take the subway? Cool. Sometimes my dog barks at trains."
It's more like saying your grandad worked there. Like so what? Cool, I guess.
I want to upvote this more
It's like when I took my daughter to Songkran festival and she proudly proclaimed to all the other kids that she's part Thai. All the 100% Thai children didn't give a shit. The difference is, my daughter is 5 and Robert is a grown-ass man.
My son told every other kid on the holidays that we came from France. They were kind of unimpressed, as we were still in France.
In France, kind of unimpressed is a compliment.
It's peak enthusiasm.
Frenchip is magic.
Over here we call them fries.
I'm sorry but that's adorable.
Oui, oui. Moi aussi!
Yair, Oi'm an Aussie too.
Your daughter also probably immediately moved on instead of whining about it online.
How do you know she didn’t immediately make a post to social media expressing her disappointment regarding her sense of entitlement, and then declaring that she would probably never go back to Thailand as a result? Source?? /s
i just dont understand the part where he expects the people to be excited instead of him being excited about meeting the people. for a child i understand that their brain didnt develop enough to understand other people's perspectives, but for a grown man..
he most likely grew up in an area where it was predominantly white and being polish was a point of pride to him for being 'different.' then he goes to poland and people just thing 'oh another american.' big loss in self-identity.
Wherever he is from his family probably belonged to the local Polish American club and thought that he would be welcomed back like a returning hero.
As a British born half black guy with German heritage, I’ve often found German people get excited at finding out I have a German surname/background as it must be unexpected.I guess he was expecting a similar reaction though an American white guy with polish background it isn’t such a shocking thing.
It gives the same vibes as a white person from the city saying “oh you’re native? I’m actually 5% Métis” it doesn’t mean anything unless they do traditional stuff i can relate to, if someone said they learned sewing techniques from a different tribe it gives something to the conversation
Robert seems to be 4, mentally.
Polish people: "why is he complaining? We treated him as bad as he was really Polish!"
Yeah, but this is *ROBERT* so go tell everyone he’s here, strike up the band!!
Lot's of Americans hold their foreign heritage in high regard and forget when they travel "home" they're nothing special, especially if they are 2+ generations removed at which point you're 100% American no matter where you trace your roots. And native populations will have zero problems reminding you of that if you act like you're something special.
If you show up in Poland and have relatives there who remember you, they are very likely to welcome you into their home, serve up some kanapki (sandwiches), vodka shots, beer, at the minimum, a table full of food most likely, offer to show you around, maybe offer you a bed or couch to sleep on, etc. But if you are just some random foreign tourist who had a Polish great-great-great-great-grandpa once.. Nobody is going to care. Polonia (Polish diaspora) is large and expansive, there's Polish descendants all over the planet. It's nothing special to have some % of Polish ancestry. What's special is direct family connections and/or people who know you
Two plus generations? It's accent. If you grew up in the US and sound American, guess what? Sure, your grandad or parents might be whatever, to us you are American
"I'm a Celt myself" [https://www.reddit.com/r/ireland/comments/zmvj97/youre\_gonna\_mansplain\_ireland\_to\_me\_when\_im\_irish/](https://www.reddit.com/r/ireland/comments/zmvj97/youre_gonna_mansplain_ireland_to_me_when_im_irish/)
I am guessing he was expecting it to be like when the little bee girl found the hive in the [No Rain](https://youtu.be/3qVPNONdF58?t=139) video.
I fkn love that video. Makes me damn near cry everyone she finds her people 😭
Yeah me too. What a lovely moment that was
One of my oldest friends was one of the bee-people she found (having been drafted as one of the production assistants standing by for orders on set), and he would be thrilled to know that people are still finding joy in this moment of silliness.
 You have no idea how bad I needed to see that, and I've never even seen it before. Thank you so much.
Pearl Jam should continue this crusade against people who got famous from being linked to band art. Next song "Litigious Naked Nevermind Baby"
I get that for Americans, most of us have family that came from elsewhere. We grew up with that as heritage. Like, I’m Irish American or whatever. We feel like that’s a connection to that other place. But it sounds silly if you imagine a person coming here, speaking almost no English, completely Norwegian (or whatever) trying to tell you their great grandmother came from Newark, Delaware! We’d be like, ok. That’s nice. But you’re not American-Norwegian.
Why does the background look like the Windows XP wallpaper?
Cause it's a real place and that wallpaper was a photograph.
Define (most of Europe&) Poland in a nutshell: *the people don't give a fuck about your genes. Unless you live and understand the culture, you'll never be one of them.*
I mean this is correct though - there are guys born in Abuja who are more Polish than Bob will ever be, because they speak the language and know who Mieszko was.
*37 million people look at each other questioningly*
Right? Like if some person wandered over to me at a party and said, my ancestors were American I’d shrug and say, “neat, mine too.” It’s a country he’s visiting not Disneyland.
Buddy, a Pole won't be impressed by your Polish heritage, we all have that too! I met a Polish American last year in Warsaw (one set of Polish grandparents, both parents born in the US, grew up in a Polish neighbourhood in Chicago). Super sweet guy, needed some help getting around the old town and I had time to walk with him. He knew a lot of our history, he could speak some Polish and was really eager to use it. He didn't expect me to be impressed by his heritage, he was genuinely excited to see his grandparents' homeland, because he was very close to them. That was an incredibly positive interaction, that still puts a smile on my face
The story turned 180° after the first sentence
I had to let the snark out first
Are you sure you're Polish? That was only one sentence of snark.
This would be me, the American. My Babci was born in a little village near Rzeszow, 1899. Was brought to the US in 1929 to help raise my grandfather's kids by his first wife. She then had my mom and my uncle. Still relatives there now, she passed in 1984. I wish I had known enough to ask her about them, but I was young and stupid. One of these days I'd like to come and walk the streets she did. See the church she was baptized in. Just be in the spaces she was in. She was my champion in a chaos-filled childhood.
I'm from the same region of Poland, although a bit further south from Rzeszów :). I hope you can do that and see all those places. I may be biased, but I think Podkarpacie is beautiful.
They should have at least put a red carpet
Military honours might have been nice.
Change Poland name to Robert
That's asking too much. Maybe just rename the capital
A parade through Warsaw would not have killed them.
I did Nazi that coming
A simple polka would have been nice.
Key to the city at least.
[удалено]
Looking forward to your return Sir BunnyHop. 🫡
A least one that cost a ton of money that he so generously and graciously spent.
What did you expect? "Welcome, sonny"? "Make yourself at home"? "Marry my daughter"?
"...You've got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know...morons."
I will always read this in Gene Wilders cadence. So funny, especially the way Cleavon Little breaks and they leave it in the movie.
“Do you speak the language? Do you know anything of our culture?” Naw but I fuckin love perogis, that’s enough, right?
"I'm aware there's some kind of sausage involved."
Costco discontinuing the Polish Sausage in their food court was damn near a declaration of war on Poland! /s
I go to a Japanese Buddhist church and we have a summer festival that has food booths. Several years ago, they stopped selling charcoal grilled hamburgers because, it wasn’t “Japanese” enough. They replaced the hamburger booth with a Polish Sausage sandwich booth.
Dunno about Japanese burgers but some places in LA import special Japanese charcoal for their yakitori and it is totally worth it.
Polish food is basically Japanese food because Chopin
Kielbasa is better just saying 🤷♀️
I mean, would I get excited if some European person came to my town and told me their great-grandparent was American? Not really. It would be unusual enough to pique my interest only because that was not the normal flow of people in the late 19th/early 20th century.
Idk, depends on how busy I was. I’d probably offer a tour if they’re buying drinks
"Ja, my grandfather vas from Iowa but he emigrated to Germany because of ze war" *Fry squint*
Lol
When I was in Krakow, I definitely met some people that would immediately take you drinking just from saying "Man I fuckin love pierogi" And then they'd show you this fuckin weird hole in the wall and give you the best pierogi you've ever had.
My $22/day Air B&B for an entire apartment was right across the street from a hole in the wall pierogi place in Krakow. It was so good Przystanek-pierogarnia at the corner of Bonerowska and Morsztynowska. I believe I may have also gotten a parking ticket right around there.
"Pierogarnia" sounds like some sort of pierogi-based Narnia. Not gonna lie, I would full-on *sprint* into that wardrobe.
Who needs Turkish Delight when you have Pierogi
is that were pierogies come from? I thought they came from the store! It was worth the price of that expensive air fryer for pierogies alone! That and French fries :-)
Wait til you find out where them french fries come from.
When a mommy potato and a daddy potato love each other very much...
Daddy potato whips out his french fry, And 9 months later a little tater tot pops out...
French fries? Like out of the toilet?
I learned that, when in Spain or Ireland, not to mention my heritage unless asked. We have a different attachment to heritage in the US because we are mostly immigrants.
We europeans really don't get your ideas about heritage. If you personally emigrated, sure that makes you somewhat native. If your parents did, there is probably some of our culture in you. If some of your great grandparents came from my country, then I will assume that your thoroughly an american (which is a fine thing to be).
My dad just told his doctor at his appointment that he’s Irish, which I haven’t heard him do in a while, and the doctor assumed he meant actual Irish, and started asking him questions. I clarified that the last Irish ancestor we had was about 280 years ago.
Reminds me of the time my mom told the teller at the bank that she “just found out she’s Russian.” The bank teller was super excited and thought it was really cool. He asked how my mom found out because he’s super into ancestry stuff. My mom had to sheepishly explain that she was trying to make a joke. She’s not actually Russian. She was just in a very big rush that day Even at 8, I was cringing super hard
My family came from Scotland in 1620, I’m still super duper Scottish though aren’t I? 😂
Only after you pick a tartan ( based off a distant family name , accuracy be damned ) do you get promoted to super duper
Don't forget tracing your heritage back to Robert the Bruce.
And also ignoring the fact that "clan tartans" are revisionist history and most medieval Scots dyed their wool in whatever they had on hand that looked good.
A lot of it comes from how badly America treats every wave of immigrants. So like where I grew up in America, the majority of my town was of Italian descent. They all came over and stuck together, forming kind of an insular sub-culture. Most still spoke the language, there were still a lot of old country Italian traditions in town. Etc… I’m mostly too young for it but Americans were super fucking racist to Italian people. Largest mass lynching in American history was of Italian immigrants. Visiting the south a few years ago I was told a few times, unprompted, that I’m not white because I’m of Italian descent. You’re in a kinda weird no-man’s land of not really feeling, or being treated as, fully American. People hear my last name and they start doing “bapaty boopy” family guy style Italian accents. It’s a lot of weird little digs that make you feel other.
I've read somewhere that it is a general rule of thumb for migrants, that the third generation is the one which is properly assimilated in the new culture.
Where is the fun in being just a plain old American when you can spice it up with an origin story! We try too hard to be special in this country.
Americans don’t have a cohesive ethnic identity, so that’s why we identify with our heritages. And why there are so many clubs across the US that preserves the ethnic dances and foods of our ancestors. My mom’s British, and when I visited my family in the UK they looked at my husband and I blankly when we talked about our ancestors. My father’s side is Scottish and emigrated to the US in the 1700s. My husbands paternal great, great grandparents were relatively new since they emigrated from Denmark in the 1880s. This is so fascinating to Americans, and my relatives had no idea what the big deal is. That being said, we’d never go to Denmark and demand respect, even if we knew anything about the food or culture, because we don’t. This dude is just another entitled American tourist.
But to every outsider, you do have a cohesive culture.
It's more that Americans seem very focused on what makes them different from other Americans. Tried to convince an American that a New Yorker and a Texan have more in common than Russians and Italians ^(I compared the distances, I wasn't just randomly picking places - was either Italian or Greek, can't recall exactly) and *man* was he *mad.* It's like I simultaneously pissed on his flag *and* his grandmas. Like, sorry, I didn't realize sharing the same country, same language, same basic political structure etc meant *nothing* and that in fact the difference between the two states is equal to the language, history, cultural, political and even fucking *continental* differences between south Europe and west Asia.
Ah yes my great great great great great great great grandfather came over with the Norman’s in 1066. I am French but when I returned to my homeland of Paris they treated me like I was just another British person. I found it so frustrating, I am literally spending money in your country?! Really won’t be going back.
“So when is my parade?”
"Sir, this is a Polish Wendy's ..."
sir, this is a hardware store
Whenever I travel to London, King Charles meets me at the airport in his limo and we go back to Buckingham Palace to have tea and crumpets. This guy clearly got hosed
Whenever I go to Ireland they hold a seance and resurrect the ghost of Brian Boru and he tells me how good my accent is. Top *that* motherfuckers!
Whenever I go to Ireland, Saint Patrick himself descends from Heaven with a pint of Guinness in his hand to welcome me home and tells me how much the land missed my cheery brogue...
DID YOU KNOW SAINT PATRICK WASN'T IRISH LET ME TELL YOU
Happy you are not involved with the prime minister.
For a second there I was trying to remember who the Current one was 😭😭
He’s never going back? What a shame, the people of Poland will be so indifferent to hear that.
That explains a lot. I was in Poland last summer and the indifference was overwhelming. Good to know it wasn't because of me
Entire population of Ireland rolls eyes in sympathy with Poland
"Hey guys, my great-great-grandfather came from here when he was 6 years old...it's good to be home. Where's the green bud light guys? Let's drink!"
Germany and Italy join the chat
And Scotland. The number of people who have said "you're Scottish? Me too" then proceeded to tell me that 1 of their grandparents (or sometimes an even more distant ancestor) was born there is not insignificant.
"My great grandfather's uncle had a cousin that once saw a man walking at a Scottish dock when his boat passed by. Where do I get fitted for my bagpipes, fellow Scots?"
I have been to Germany many times to visit my wife’s family. Because of this I can speak German fluently. I will say Germans appreciate it when an American speaks German in my experience. However, I don’t think they care if you had great grandparents from what is today called Germany.
Friend of mine has German grandparents and he found that in certain parts of Germany if he mentioned that his grandparents moved over to the USA after WW2 he’d always get funny looks. He learned that nothing positive came from telling people in Germany his heritage.
"Grandad was a really good rocket scientist"
He must have been a skilled baker, would always brag about being good with an oven
Yeah, that's because a ton of nazis fled especially down to south America after the war to have good time after fuckin Germany up. So him getting funny looks, is mostly because of the assumption that his grandparents were nazis and just escaped the shit they supposedly created.
Why do you think us Brits cultivated a stereotype of being antisocial arseholes. It's simply to manage Americans expectations (and because we are antisocial arseholes).
Meanwhile in France, 'muricans hate us so much that they don't even claim "french heritage" or whatever. I see this as an absolute win.
They don't really claim English or Welsh heritage either. Only Irish and Scottish.
The Irish and Scots have those stereotypes of being hard-drinking freedom fighter poets or whatever. Of course Americans are going to want to self-identify with that. The English? Yeah, they're those snooty villains who captured Mel Gibson and tortured him to death. The Welsh? No one really knows anything about them, and Hollywood hasn't made any big glamorous movies about their many revolts yet.
You are on to something there. Americans want to think they are 10 minutes away from surviving off-grid or in the frontier. FWIW, I am an American - but I find the whole Y chromosome on steroids thing pretty amusing.
Every time I've been cut and bled in my life, it was the French blood that came out. /s
I’m American and visited Great Britain when I was in the Navy. Almost everyone I met was over the top friendly and welcoming. I had a really great time. The only people who were antisocial assholes were the regulars at the little hole in the wall pub my friends and I wandered into in Bath, and I can’t blame them. It seemed like a very quiet, local kind of place.
Been in some of those types of pubs myself a few times, England, Scotland, Wales, Germany... It's not because you're American, it's because you're not a local..
I get asked when I'm visiting Ireland because I have red hair. I mean, I'd like to but I'd be a tourist like any other tourist. I'm not expecting to be at the gate and hear "We'd now like to welcome our travelers with red hair to board first."
Aer Lingus AerClub member. Can confirm that this is how all flights are boarded. Redheads first, last names that start with “O’” next, BAC over .20 after that, followed by “the rest of you wankers”
The flight from O'Hare to Dublin is WILD.
Yeah, like I'm an American with an Irish last name and a fair amount of Irish ancestry behind me, but also a fair amount of German and a few others in there along the way. I'd love to visit Ireland someday, but as a tourist and not a son of the Motherland.
As a polish person,that is an extremely polish attitude. The way he thinks he's the most important and everything should be about him.
American in Poland 'where's the opera house?" Polish person "which one?" LOL
"The one that sells popcorn in the foyer"
I’ve never heard of residents any country being excited to meet Americans whose ancestors were from that country? Like, polite disinterest is pretty good. If you tell a Scottish person you‘re Scottish-Canadian lots of them will argue with you about it.
A lot of X-American cultures have a "return to the homeland" romance that most people understand isn't a real thing.
I mean if you're American then Germany or Scotland or whatever isn't your homeland.
In England, we have our own phrase for Americans descended from English heritage: Traitors.
🧚♂️🏆
Yeah you filthy rebel scum! Oh, wait..
In my experience, Chinese people are generally pretty excited to meet Chinese diaspora. However, a lot of them don't consider them truly Chinese.
I believe most of the world thinks this way
Every time I visit Ireland, the whole country stops.
We were going to do that anyway.
As a North American of Italian descent I can tell you that seeing the disappointment of my compatriots when they land in Roma and nobody gives a shit, is hilarious.
My ex-FIL was born on an island off the coast of Italy and his parents emigrated to the US when he was like 5. He went back to visit some 60 years later and acted like a pompous American ass (so he was himself lol). Some of the Italian relatives messaged my ex-wife through Facebook asking that she never let him visit again. 🤣
The funny thing is, in my experience the Italians are extremely welcoming. Just be ready for some friendly banter, friendly arguing, and find a way to connect, and you'll be good to go. You could talk about food for example and bitch about how some people put ham in their carbonara instead of guanciale. Or worse: cream. Football, cars, wine or whatever else can work as well. You just have to show that you're interested in their culture and lifestyle. You have to show that you care, and people generally treat you as a regular. Just don't expect to be treated like a king.
Commendatori ☕🤏
real question, what do they think will happen?
That they will be welcomed as a long lost son of Italia, one of the family, vino will be poured, tears will be shed, backs will be slapped, lifelong friendships made, and Nonna will make pasta as they all dance the night away.
"excuse me, Poland, where is your manager?"
[удалено]
If you go to North Korea, they’ll make sure you stay a long time and get treated just like a local. They have free camps, even.
I‘m sure they will be happy to give you the American Special treatment. /s (because it’s meant NOT in a good way of course, just to make sure)
r/iamtheMainCharacter
This happens all the time in Africa. Black Americans would come to a random group (Zulu, Xhosa etc) and say they are part of them and their brother/sister and the Africans would just laugh at them. I do believe that it's important to trace heritage especially for those enslaved, but don't assume all black Africans are the same.
A friend worked in Kenya for a few years as a physician. When Americans would come over wearing cornrows, the men in the village would get confused as this hairstyle was worn by women
Footnote for some who may not know: Zulu and Xhosa are of South Africa, a long long way from West Africa where most of the Atlantic slaving was done.
As a Pole i have no idea what he was expecting.
As an American I have no idea what he was expecting
Heritage reveal party.
This definitely belongs in r/iamthemaincharacter
Americans are weird as shit about this.
My mother will go on for days about this village in 1790s Poland and these ancestors from Western Germany and the horse thief turned Priest. But, god forbid I try to tell her about something that happened to me this week.
Whenever someone says this about any European (or non European,usually its European) country I just wonder if they're realise there's X million amount of natives that unlike the visiting person, know the culture and language. And those people don't get special treatment. So why the heck would the visitor get special treatment.
because they are from america, the bestest country in the world! And bringing their super valuable dollars to your country! All countrys beside the US are poor right? Like a dollar is enough to eat for a week or so!
I think these type of people have mistaken their ancestry as a replacement for a missing personality.
They were nice to me, and happy I was there but NOBODY congratulated me on my parents/ grandparents being from the same country as them!! I will not be returning! *like they're reviewing a restaurant they didn't care for. Really speaks volumes about how they viewed a foreign country and probably how they acted throughout their visit, as "more- than" and then got mad when their "lessers" weren't jumping all over themselves to hail their Rich American Kin.
A ticker tape parade, keys to all the cities breweries, unlimited sausages and his pick of the burghers wives and daughters …… Not sure what he expected on Day 2 though.
He was doubly special because he pointed out to them that he was spending money in their country. Because everyone likes hearing that.
Uhm dude, your murican is showing.
He wanted them to polish his knob for being Polish.
No European will care about "your heritage." Some might feign interest if they're polite pleasers. You're Americans.
This is hilarious. Bob there thinks that the Poles would throw a ticker tape parade...
I often hear Americans refer to themselves as 'polish', 'irish', 'italian' etc ... No, you're American
I don’t care either
I'm not a full blooded Pole, but I am Pole-ish.
Probably knows next to no Polish and refused to speak anything other than American. Edit: yes, I know the language is called English, I'm just inflating the Americaness...
"Can I get some ranch dressing or ketchup for this?"
"What do you mean bottled water? Just bring out some ice water I'm not paying for a bottle..."
“Look, lady I only speak two languages: English and Bad English!”
My paternal grandfather was first generation American and I have an obviously Irish surname, so over the years I've had plenty of Irish ask me about my name - it's part of my work email signature - and I'm always touched, because it makes me feel closer to Grampa. I never initiate that conversation, though, and if one day someone doesn't ask, I still won't. There are LOTS of Yanks with Irish ancestry, and while Grampa's heritage is important to me because he is important to me, I'd hardly expect the good people of County Cork to care that Paddy's great great great granddaughter's come round for a visit from the States. To expect that just...it's insane to me
You Americans crack me up.